Jajpur Road/Kaliapani: Acting on a tip-off, police arrested three Maoists during a raid at a protest site outside the Kamarda mines under Kaliapani police limits in Jajpur district Monday, police said Tuesday.
The arrested ultras were identified as Rabi Murmu of Karanjia in Mayurbhanj district, Ishwar Majhi of Slisuan in Keonjhar district and Abhimanyu Mohant of Kharkhari village under Kaliapani police limits.
Among them, Murmu is an old cadre of the Maoist outfit and has two cases pending in his name at Tomka police station of the district, it was learnt.
The three along with four other Maoist leaders were touring various areas in Sukinda valley and spreading the Maoist network by inducting tribals into their fold.
They were arrested when they were agitation by dismissed labourers over reinstatement outside the Kamarda mines Monday.
Maoist literature was seized from their possession during their arrests. The aim of the accused was to create new cadres for their outfit as they were found inciting poor tribals to get involved in their outfit and fight for their rights over displacement.
The accused were taken for interrogation where they confessed to their involvement in Maoist activities.
Police registered a case and produced them in a court from where they were remanded to Ragadi sub-jail custody after the magistrate rejected their bail pleas.
Police said some youths of Hatibudi village under Kansa panchayat were earlier working as casual labourers in Kamarda mines. However, they lost their jobs after a new consultancy agency replaced the old one in Kamarda mines.
Murmu incited the tribal youths to protest and was staging a sit-in when the police over a tip-off raided the place and arrested them. They were brought over to the police station where they admitted to their involvement in Maoist activities for the last five months, Kaliapani IIC Yubaraj Swain said.
However, the locals cried hoarse over the incident stating that the police have falsely implicated the three as Maoists as they refused to favour the ruling party-led trade unions in the mining region. PNN